Original Post
I have recently decided to rewrite my rpg engine in Visual Basic and make it multiplayer. Massive would be nice but I haven't looked into this very much. I think it is possible to make a VB mmorpg but would probably require the server be programmed in C.
I'll be honest...I haven't done much research on making VB games multiplayer. I also don't have much of Design Document (4 pages that needs heavy revision). This is something that needs way more planning and such.
I need someone to program/design a multiplayer program (ie chat) that is fast and supports upto 32 computers. Once that is complete I can implement it into the game and we can go from there. I know enough about network programming to implement someone's network code.
My current multiplayer design:
The battle system will be turned based so that shouldn't be a problem. When moving on the map, new coordinates and animation frame will be shared to all computers that are within the display of other computers. The server will determine who is within bounds of another computer. Thats it for now. The rest should follow easily. I have already made a multiplayer game that uses this concept. Screenshot.
Sharing only new information and only when players are within bounds helps speed it up only slightly. I need to find someone who actually knows what they are doing. I can program everything else. I have already made rpg's in the past. (This link is like 4 years old).
RPGToolbox
[update 05/30/03]
I recently made a 5 person chat program that uses winsock. I use a different control for each computer. I think this is multithreading but I have no idea. I'll test the speed on this but I doubt it will be fast. I still don't know what I am doing.
[/update]
About the rpg:
The rpg will be a typical console rpg with a battle system that involves strategy. Mobs of monsters will move on the world map and battles will take place on the world map. Once a fight is engaged, nearby monsters and players will be aligned to grid (snapped to tile size) and players will take turns attacking. You will be able to move on the map while in battle. Other players can join in or even join your party.
Every character can be specialized and given a "job". Current jobs planned are fighter, mage, ranger and priest. Later I will come up with more original "jobs". Each player can use customized graphics for their characters and perhaps some items and weapons. Weapons,staves,armor can be upgraded with gems found in the game.
There will be quests to find gems and such and increase your stats. Most quests will be optional.
In the future I may implement weapons with prefixes and suffixes (rip-off of Diablo), combo attacks, combo spells, magic specialization and a few other unoriginal ideas taken from various rpg's. I do however have a few great ideas that are original.
So far I have a Directx3D 8 engine that displays a tiled-map of 20x15 tiles at over 150 fps. My cpu is a 1.15 ghz with a Geforce4 ti4400. Directx3D 8 supports alpha blending and rotation which is already implemented. SCREENSHOT.
I have a few screenshots of the old rpg HERE.
The new site is down, which was http://ns.breezeland.com/
This project will also need artists, composers, sound effects, and more once I get a basic multiplayer demo up and running. Contact me if you want to contribute once the demo is complete.
-Jebediah
Nostalgic Studios - http://ns.breezeland.com/
Project leader, Main Programmer and Designer
Email: Jebb99@Excite.com
[edited by - Jebediah on May 31, 2003 2:07:02 AM]
